CA judge rejects Vioxx lawsuit against N.J.-based drugmaker Merck

AP Photo/Daniel HulshizerA 2004 file photo of Vioxx arranged on a counting tray, laying on top of the botttle, at The Pennington Apothecary. Today, a California judge rejected a class-action lawsuit by former Vioxx users against N.J. drugmaker Merck.

WHITEHOUSE STATION -- A California state judge today rejected a proposed class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of California residents who took the painkiller Vioxx, made by New Jersey-based Merck & Co., before it was pulled from the market in 2004.

Lawyers for former Vioxx users and health insurance plans wanted to sue Merck to recover what they paid for it. The plaintiffs' lawyers argued patients would have taken other pain relievers, if they knew Vioxx doubled risk of heart attack and stroke.

But Judge Victoria Chaney of Los Angeles Superior Court ruled recently that the patients and insurers cannot sue as a group. She wrote they paid varying amounts for Vioxx and had too many other differences to sue jointly.

Judges have rejected some other similar lawsuits against Merck, of Whitehouse Station.